HYDERABAD Jan 24: The president of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Sindh, MNA Asadullah Bhutto, has criticized the government’s foreign policy, saying that Pakistan should review its foreign policy and extend its support to Iraq instead of the US.

Speaking to participants of a reception, which was held in Gulshan-e-Hali here on Thursday, he said that the country’s foreign policy had failed.

The US, he said, had declared war against Islamic values, adding that President Gen Pervez Musharraf was on the side of the US in what he described as the conflict of civilizations.

Criticizing the presidential decision to do away with the half-day leave for the Friday prayers, he said that the president had issued a notification asking the judges to wear trousers and Sherwanis instead of Sherwani and Shalwar, adding that this was being done to appease the United States.

He warned the government, saying that the MMA’s success in the general elections clearly indicated that the people were against the US policies.

Criticizing the withdrawal of criminal cases against those he described as being terrorists, he said that law abiding and peaceful people were being implicated in false cases.

Sindh, he said, was in grips of an unprecedented crisis but instead of resolving it, more problems, especially that of law and order situation, were being created.

Reiterating the MMA’s resolve to strengthen the parliamentary democracy, he said that the Legal Framework Order and the president’s army uniform were impeding the way of democracy and the supremacy of the Constitution.

Speaking on the occasion, MNA Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair said that the American slaves were being distressed by the people’s support for the MMA.

Without being specific, he said that the people would reject the murderers of Hakeem Said and the Bhatta Mafia.

The MMA’s parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly, Maulana Umer Sadiq, said that the alliance was not electoral but a permanent one, which would remain intact “forever.”

He said that the alliance was, in fact, a public response against the government’s pro-US policies.

He demanded of the government to immediately stop the transfers of low-paid railway employees to far-flung areas, adding that the golden handshake cheques, which had been issued to the employees of the Zeal Pak Cement Factory, should be encashed without delay.

MPA Abdur Rehman Rajput, on this occasion, criticized the display of banners against the MMA, adding that the alliance was capable of giving a befitting reply to such provocations but it did not want to disturb the city’s peaceful atmosphere.

He said that the MMA will not allow the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to destroy the peaceful atmosphere.

Maulana Shabbir Ahmed and Maulana Taj Mohammad Nahyoon also spoke on the occasion.